Triathlon Lifestyles: Kevin Konczak

Sunday, August 5, 2018

My last official triathlon was 9/24/2016. Almost 2 years ago. Hard to believe time passes so fast. I've done some duathlons, mainly due to lack of time for distance training and trip to the pool for swimming had to go first--seems like no matter how much effort put into swimming, my swim is about the same, regardless of effort I pour into it. Duathlon is something that doesn't take as much time as Ironman or 70.3 training. I've decided to step away from full Ironman racing for a while--I don't want to miss my kid growing up.

It has been over 2 years now since a career changing lower leg injury at Duathlon Nationals, which then resulted in a compensation injury of the hamstring on the other leg. This season, I welcomed a shoulder injury of sort where I had surgery back in 2000 or 2001, so I've stayed out of the water. While feeling slightly better after 4 months, I think it may be time to up it to an earth shattering TWO swims a week (haha). Back in 2017, I had signed up for Boulder 70.3 with my wife, for the 2018 race. Honestly, I would not have raced this due to the shoulder injury & lack of training miles, if it were not three miles from home. Here are the stats for prep for my 70.3 (not recommended).

Ave. training time per week--7 to 8 hrs/week.

Swim 1x per week (nothing over 2000 yards continuous)

Run: 15-20 mpw. (no runs over 12 miles)

Bike: whatever I could fit in. Usually a "long ride" of only 35-40 miles.

No real time for strength work in the gym.

Pretty pathetic training but it is all I have time for, races were meant to be all short anyhow.

Combine that with 3 jobs (tech job, real estate & coaching) that is a pretty full schedule when you have a family and household! It is what it is & certainly I look forward to scaling that back at some point and have coaching a real estate be the only regular jobs. On my ONE swim in Boulder this past month at Spruce pool, I ran into Max Lawler--an athlete I coached for years. Likely the hardest working athlete I've worked with, bar none, certainly faster than any with his standing 9:11 Ironman time. We talked for about 5 minutes and he wondered how the heck I could do all "that" and still race the level I have been all these years. Truth is, my consistency feels as if it has waned due to all that I am doing...feeling scattered at times and certainly need to simplify life in general. Too many hats to wear and often when it comes to racing, has taken me out of the hunt time to time. Sure there are good races, but there are more bad days than I prefer.

On to the race report...

Woke up at 4:45 AM had a coffee, Clif bar. Had a sore spot on my right calf for the past few days but nothing that would hopefully hinder me in the race. Got to the Boulder Rez with Michelle around 5:50 (transition closed at 7 AM). Did a warm up of about a mile, leg swings, light stretches. Lost count of the bathroom stops. No anxiety that I could detect being the first tri in a couple years...so, went to the swim start, self-seeded in the 27 to 30 min. wave of swimmers after a short swim warm up. Swam easy and all was fine except that dang weak right shoulder. First 2000+ swim of the year completed, YAHOO!

Transition/T1...As my friend Alicia Brillion stated, I was WAY back in the final two rows with the "rif-raff" and it was just about the furthest route through transition you could get. The guys I race with typically were in the first "AWS" (All World Athlete) ranking of the top in the world. This certainly made for a scenic tour route through transition.

Bike: Surprisingly, the bike went fairly well for the little conditioning and riding I've done this year. This would be only my FIFTH bike ride in the month leading up to Boulder 70.3 Half Ironman. DON'T FOLLOW THIS EXAMPLE! We have been on vacation 20 of the last 30 days so I just didn't have access to ride. I went through 2 large water bottles of 300 calories each. That and half a bottle of water from an aid station. Not quite enough liquid and was in a deficit by the time I started the run.

T2: I took a bit more time than expected mainly due to feeling a bit dizzy and the legs were rocked from the sheer distance of the bike which I am not trained for.

Run: It went to a hand basket from the get go. I have not human nemisis/arch enemy, mine is only HEAT. I hate the heat, race horrible in the heat, as proven by my many mediocre Hawaii Ironman finishes (which is just that along with humidity). From the start the fuel plan was to try to grab as much ice, water, and Coke as I could each mile by walking through them. I was experiencing heat exhaustion meltdown at this point and it quickly became a survival crisis management situation--just jog between aid stations and refuel. I had guys who had never beaten me before (ever) just blow by me so fast on the run I saw them for a minute or two, then they were gone. Last time I raced this, I won the AG and ran only about a minute slower than what Silvio Guerra did today (an Olympian and 2nd overall former professional runner at the 2001 Boston Marathon). Silvio won his AG in the 50-54 as he is now doing triathlons in his 50+ years of life. In fact, the top 3 guys in the 50-54 were all faster than the top 3 in the 45-49 Age Group, so there is still hope to get faster!

In short, not enough training. I've always been a minimalistj for training hours, but this season it has been way too minimal and just needed to cut back on some things and refocus. I'm not interested in full Ironman racing any time soon, maybe in a few 2-3 years (or more). We will see. Never say never, things change. I'm sure life will toss all kinds of unexpected things at me so you have to be flexible with life. Not to mention age creeping up and all those years of racing consistently, injury free, have caught up to me. Suppose it is pay back time to balance it all out.

POST RACE: After going home and showering, I didn't really much care what my result was, only that I finished. Very sub-par race but whatever, we all have them. Checking out Michelle's online finish stats (who rocked her race by the way & I'm very proud of her!)...I figured what the heck, let's see how bad I really did. Totally unexpectedly, I was 3rd in my age group. Qualified a slot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships to Nice, France for 2019. Awards were at 4 PM...it was 3:50 PM. I had to hop in the car, race back to the Rez for awards, having not stuck around to even think I'd have a podium finish/award with that horrible of a race. I turned down the slot to France, no interest in world 70.3 "draft fest" racing. Anyhow, I got this piece of metal as an award, a sore pair of legs, and a reminder that it my first trip back to being a triathlete after nearly 2 years--so it's ALL GOOD! There you have it, my worst day imaginable was still a podium finish.

I may just have to sign up for some more races this year and try to race myself back into shape...

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

So...it has been a few years since my last blog post, with some injury issues, but no lack of social media posts on FB, Twtter or Instagram. I've been around but just quiet on this front. A lot has changed and busy isn't the word I'd use to describe the chaos of the past few years.

2017 wasn't such a great year, losing 2 uncles and a cousin. The hard part was in not being able to go back for the funerals, as traveling across country and getting childcare, time off from work and travel tickets all were impossibly tight to coordinate on such thin time margins. The same happened with an uncle a few years ago. I feel horrible in that to my cousins--I really wanted to be there. We were all close, so it wasn't something I wanted to miss. I am honoring my Uncle Tony today in fact, by wearing a down vest he owned. I think about him each time I put it on. He was a hunter, so he had lots of warm clothes!

On the athletic side of things, it was bust. I only started 3 races. Bolder Boulder, where I had to put forth a 3/4 effort as any faster would damage my already damned injury worse. It was a tempo run but unfortunately, not a RACE effort. I started but struggled training for Ironman Boulder. With only 13.1 miles left I was in 4th overall in the amateur race and winning my age group, on what was the most minimal effort and best feeling in an Ironman I've ever had. The PAIN from the injury was what took me out, I realized I could permanently damage myself so I pulled out, even though aerobically it felt easy.

I ended up getting MRI results only the day before the race. A day too late in order to get any refund for the race (I had the full race insurance). Either way, I decided to go until I felt either damage would be too much to continue or make me unable to sustain a steady effort. After that, I went to a real medical doctor and it turned out I had been doing all the wrong rehab since day one. He told me to stop all of it, and I got a PRP treatment, where I since then, have been on the steady road back. I'm not there yet, but have lost 11 lbs and completed a duathlon locally, and ended up 2nd with only a professional finishing ahead of me (he is about 18 years younger than I am too boot!) Things are on the road to hopefully a better 2018, as it couldn't get much more minimal in the race department.

Also, professionally from work standpoint, I have announced publically, that I am a licensed Real Estate Agent in the state of Colorado. I have been working in this arena behind the scenes with my owner-broker for about a year now, been to closings, showing/finding homes and moving things towards that next step in client's lives. My next step was to actually start letting people know I was now doing this professionally. It is a hard business to get into, expensive as well--but I know I have the tools to be a success. 2018 is about making everything I do BETTER than I did it in 2017. That includes tightening up things with a new website as well...something that I've been wanting to do for quite a few years now. It turns out we spin our wheels thinking about doing stuff more than we do those things themselves.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

I've got plenty of long course race experience with something like 28 Ironman races under my belt all over the world. Just not a lot of experience racing 3/4 of an Ironman only 5-6 weeks after a full Ironman. One at altitude (which takes a lot out of you from the altitude), then the other 3/4 of a full distance, in what amounted to a wind tunnel with heat all day long.

Let me start by some admission of my own fails. First, I ignored every cardinal rule I ever set for myself in a race, so results are quite deserving of where I landed up. This time around I will not point to the fact I've had one race and pretty much been fighting off multiple injuries this last season. This has more to do with jumping in a race too soon and spacing everything you should NOT do before a race. I will be clear and exact here, to not mislead the post.

It started last year when I chose ITU Long Course World's in OKC, due to being the 2015 45-49 AG National Champ. You must defend/show up to World's if it is on home soil in the USA. Honor the title! Though several young bucks were moving to the AG (Dave Slavinski & Tom Woods), There was little chance to really defend anything, but hell, let's roll the dice, anything can happen right?
I raced Ironman Boulder in early August, with recovery right after that. Not sure I ran more than 8 miles since then, or biked over 45 miles at any single time since. My swimming was quite decent as that seemed to not bother any of the injuries I've had recently. When I made hotel reservations for this race, for some reason, had it slotted for Sunday, 9/25/2016. I was under the impression it was not 9/24 despite all the communications I may have received and scanned over. I typed the leave/return and race dates from/to Boulder incorrectly, as well as took off more days from work than I needed.

It wasn't until a final email (sent on Friday morning) of things to do from USAT, for last minute details, that said "Bike Check In until 7 PM on Friday." Why on earth so we take bikes two days prior to the race site? Dumb I thought (Note: this was Friday AM as mentioned, after waking up.) As I read the email, turns out the race was SATURDAY (tomorrow!), not Sunday like I've been thinking since last year! I don't know what, where, or when I missed exactly, or how, but that started the downhill roll with added stress of completing everything in one day. Packet pick up, bike drop off, pack race bags, plan the early morning commute and wake up times, when to eat, what to eat, everything was turned completely upside down in a flurry and rush. Stress for sure!

Another "rule" I broke was eating junk. I ate a not so good burger from a place called "Tucker's" which looked like a 5-Guys inside, but the burgers were burned tasting and not a place I'd remember to return to. I also had salad that day, which fiber was not needed for those of you who know what the body does race morning. I did steer clear of milk/dairy Friday. Although I did have milk and pizza at dinner on Thursday evening with Tom Woods at Hideaway Pizza in Edmond, OK (ITU Silver medalist in this race). So yeah, I screwed that up royally, something I rarely do.

Another rule, heading into race day dehydrated. Peeing a bit on the gold side race morning (okay, a lot)...it must've been all the running around getting things done Friday. I went for a bike ride with Tom Woods and some of his buddies. Little did I expect the ride was to be more than half an hour...so I did not bring a water bottle as I had a water bottle full of ice water before we left. That short ride turned in to a hot, getting lost type ride all over the Hefner Lake neighborhoods. It was close to 75 minutes long or more-- double what I expected. Never could catch up liquids after that. Drink too much water, you can't sleep because you're getting up every hour and then feel sloshy in the gut at night. Tom did share one of his water bottles during the ride with me but I went through that rather quickly.

Another rule broken...(how many can there be?) Not planning out my nutrition. I know to the calorie what I needed for Ironman Boulder. For LD World's I didn't even measure consistently what I put in the bottles. One was about 210 calories, the other was 300 calories, identical bottles. I had a Gatorade gummy block packet and three of the FREE gels I got from USAT in our packets. Not even sure what brand it was, so I figured, it's all calories right? (*NEVER* try something NEW race day.) The rest of the bike was a mostly water and a couple swigs of Gatorade. Clearly I had way too few calories. I could honestly count 1,000 calories for the entire bike of 120 km. Gels, Infinit mix, the rest was just water poured over my head, and some in my mouth whenever I got cottonmouth. I was having trouble keeping anything down really, and even threw up on the bike. As for salt, I had one salt tab on the bike, which I had only last minute put into my Salt Stick, before the swim. If only because Tom asked if I needed any Salt Tabs. My first thought was, "Oh shit, I forgot that too!" Then ran off as they were closing transition to fill the Salt Stick up.

The SWIM...it went okay, crazy super windy and waves. The amplitude of waves were that of Kona, but the chop the waves was beyond that and as such, the current was worse, requiring you to fight just to stay on course in a legal sense. At times, we swam into the outgoing swimmers as we returned. Luckily, it was in 2 feet of water where we all walked for a hundred or so yards. I did get a cut on the bottom of one toe from the sharp rocks, but it otherwise did not affect my race. Transition went smooth, getting in and out in a decent time but not super fast--but was one of the faster guys for sure. Dan Chapman (my AG) left shortly before I did. Upon exiting transition I heard them announce Tom Woods and knew it wouldn't be long before I saw him passing by. It was quite a surprise not seeing multiple time World Champion Dave Slavinski for a very long time later into the bike. I really thought he would have been ahead of both Tom and I at that point.

The bike was brutal. Not many calories and not much hydration, way too little of everything. Although I felt quite fine until mile 50 when I just lost power to the quads. First thought...I'm racing too soon after Ironman Boulder, with too little training behind me. Nope, that wasn't it. Next thought...not fueling during the bike enough...yep, that was really the source I think, combined with my nemesis the HEAT for the slow down on the bike. I was cooking, it was not comfortable out there and there was a vast difference in my sweat rate vs liquid intake the entire bike.

T2...not too bad, not the best, but had to change into some dry socks. It went okay, but not what I called one of my better transitions.

Run...getting out of transition it was quite hard to get the legs moving. They were dead from the wind and exhaustion spent on the bike, or part of the lack of recovery from Ironman, or lack of training since Ironman, or the injuries--but likely it was a full combination of all of the above elements.
The tempo wasn't there. The cadence wasn't there. Immediately I felt the heat, though it was windy in your face starting out, the mile 1 aid station couldn't come soon enough. Vision blurred about 5 km into the run, arms were flopping around, everything went to hell in a hand basket and there isn't much you can do when that happens, it just happens no matter what technical advice you try to self talk yourself in to. "Arms swing forward, relax the neck and shoulders. Fast cadence!" None of it worked. I was fighting just to finish, after being on the podium position or near it at the start of the bike. Some title defense right? Do EVERYTHING wrong you possibly can and sabotage your day--complete opposite of what you're used to doing. Why? I don't know for sure, it happened.

After lap #1, the Team Manager, Tim Yount tried to pull me from the race yelling at me, "Come here, it's not worth the damage to your body! It's okay to drop!" I heard him, but he said I was weaving around and eyes were rolling around (my sun glasses were down on the tip of my nose or my head was bobbling). Anyhow, I ran into a fence post while running, not realizing I flopped all over and ran crooked. My thought was, "You're on USA soil, the USA champ, even if you have to walk this race, you have to give the others a chance to knock you off the top spot, it's unfair and would dishonor the title to drop." So I didn't. The hardest part was trying to get my senses back. I started Coca Cola, Red Bull, all the water and ice and sponges I could get at each aid station. I gave up time standing and going through a dozen glasses of ice and water each mile to keep my core temp down. As long as I could get enough to go just one more mile. After lap two, I was going to drop when I got done with it. One more lap to go. I didn't want to continue, didn't want to fight, just wanted it to end. I had absolutely nothing left--put a fork in me, I'm well done! Quit and that memory is forever. Keep going and finish--you've won over yourself and all the inside demons forever.

Any more screw ups? Sure. Oh let me count the ways...After much walking between and aid station stopping, Dan Chapman (a local I've had the pleasure of meeting along with his wife), passed me by and was kind enough to encourage me to continue (I was going to, just in walk mode). Upon getting to the finish line, there was a right sidewalk (lap route to turn around), the finish (straight ahead) and the left sidewalk (the run exit to start out of T2). Nobody was posted there so I was in full tilt with whatever I had left in me towards the finish line, cut left (wrong direction!) before Tim Yount yelled I took the wrong direction and to come back. I turned around only to see the Aussie (McCann) who I saw drafting multiple times on the bike with a Russian and another...buzz by the intersection and took my 6th place AG finish place, dropping me to 7th. So there you have it, I was 6th until the last 50 or 75 yards of the race--but lost it going off course, making me now a 7th place 45-49 AG finisher. That sucks. I was delirious so was confused despite there being a sign right there pointing to the finish. But another competitor did the same thing so I don't feel as bad. A trip to the medical tent for lots of ice and cold towels, a half hour later, and I was able to leave. After the finish, Dan Chapman said his wife walked me to the Med Tent. I didn't even know it was her I was so out of it. I saw a female and some things spinning around--like a kaleidoscope. That's all I remember until I cooled down. The only thing really I was aware of was multiple doctors around me talking about temperature and how an oral thermometer isn't accurate...so they may have to take a rectal temperature. Luckily, they didn't see the cut in the back of my suit (repaired from 2013 Du World's accident when a Brit ran into me at the bike mount line with his SRAM R2C shifter levers). Otherwise, that would have been the ideal place to put it!

In short, I screwed up about everything you could possibly screw up. Right down to dropping a shampoo bottle on my foot in the shower race morning, leaving a bruise before I left the hotel for the race. Yeah, it was as if bad luck was on my side the entire trip.

What's next? Go see a doctor and get some imaging on all these injuries, get into a physical rehab plan, build strength, and get healthy. Only two races under the belt all season. From Long Course Triathlon and Duathlon AG National champ last year, to UNRANKED in both sports. Wow, what a turn of events.

I'm happy to have gotten to know Tom Woods better this trip, he was like a travel buddy we spent so much time hanging out. As for my athletes I coach, I will only say, take this as a positive message. Your coach on this day, leads by example. What I mean by that is, I lead by example of what NOT to do before, or during a race. That was not the usual ME out there, so it is good to get grounded by having this poor of an experience, which in turn, is a good thing. Because it reinforces what I always have said. Plan, double, triple, quadruple check plans. Don't be lazy about the details. A few missed details can be disastrous for race day. All that work goes in the garbage without plans and precise execution.

The happiest thing I did this trip, was not giving up. Not quitting or letting someone pull me, no matter the cost. I beat those demons inside, fought them back. I'll be back, next time--healthier, more fit, ready to rumble again. After all, it was inspiring despite my slow time and placing, to defeat my toughest competitor...ME.

Friday, August 19, 2016

2016 has been a long list of personal challenges for myself and my family. It actually started last fall with the passing of my brother in law, with a quick discovery and even quicker loss to cancer. Then there are the ups and downs of the oil industry which got the best of my wife with a lay off after that (thank goodness she's back on the horse again though). In sport, the recurring soleus injury from 2015 Duathlon Nationals (the ONLY race I lost in my age group), where I tore it part way through the first run--continued to haunt me all of 2016.

I did one local duathlon, preparing with about six rides on the trainer and some on again/off again runs and no speed work. It turned out okay and had I raced in the Elite wave, I'd have actually made money from prize purse offered. There was Bolder Boulder, an even bigger mess with one of my worst times in that race, but still managed a first place by two minutes over the second place guy. Pretty disappointing time for me, but rolled with it. Boulder Peak was cancelled, so there was what was to be my first race of the year, didn't happen. All this time the 2015 injury cropped up each 3-4 weeks even while doing about 12 miles a week. Another thing I had not done this year was lift weights, due to the injury, so felt weak all season. Running never really gained traction (pun intended).

I literally ran in pain all season long and finally decided after a long search, to go with a less light weight shoe for Ironman Boulder, in exchange for cushion. HOKA Clifton 3. After some work getting elastic laces adjusted, these worked fantastic until the squish from being wet cropped up.
Leading into the race meant pretty much a couple of what I deem "medium length" runs and one long 20 mile run in the HOKA shoes. In order to get over the soleus issue, after about 11 months, I decided I had to stop running all together. So on my work lunch break, I would just use the elliptical trainer rather than walking on the treadmill. After 2 months, the soleus issue was clear!

But...not so fast, a new hip issue (opposite side from the soleus tear) from the elliptical (because the pedals were too wide compared to my narrow hips), cropped up and stayed with me right until this writing post Ironman. However, I could run again only with a nagging strain feeling from the overused, odd position the elliptical placed me in. Eventually the elliptical thing just had to stop. At least it hurt mostly only during cycling. What a mess! The hard part was keeping confidence up that finishing an Ironman on a total of 7-8 hours a week, dealing with injuries that obviously would not be gone by race day. There were really no 4,000 long swims (lucky to have gotten in a 2,000 yard swim at all!) Running required at least two days to feel ready to run again, while cycling--just took more time than I had this summer. The goals for Ironman Boulder were simple:

1) Finish and not throw up a lot like 2014, or walk.
2) Pace all day long, much easier than normal, while keeping cool and fueling best I could.

Now the race details...
SWIM:
Flipped 5x on my back to keep putting my cap back on...it kept sliding off the top of my head during the swim. Breathed 2x on the right, 2 on the left--then SIGHT THE BUOY. Nice and easy, barely felt like I was swimming, the effort was likely way too minimal and felt like a warm up. A sub 1 hour swim should I choose, definitely is possible even off the fitness I have now.

T1:
Blazed through super fast until I exited the change tent...pee break #1.

BIKE: Held back more than I wanted to, but patience in Ironman is KEY. Pacing and nutrition should be the main things for age groupers to focus on. From 2014, I knew too many tend to over-cook the bike and die out on the run. The plan was to nail 21-22 mph even if going faster was possible. Never felt the 112 miles have such little impact as I did in this race. Feeling that fresh was sort of scary, usually it hurts at that point. At the special needs aid station, I had to get off the bike and pee again (a good sign), so a guy held my bike while I did the duty.

T2: Blazed through again, only to have to stop just as I exited the change tent, to take what I'll just refer to as a lengthy porta-john break. Details left out for those less inquiring minds-- never eat a 3/4 large pizza the night before an Ironman race. It'll come back to haunt you--guaranteed!

RUN: Literally had figured I'd blow up due to the lack of running and injuries. The first 13-15 miles were focused on fueling, super short steps, and just poke along sloth-like. This was the greatest question mark of the race for me...can you do any Ironman on 7-8 hours a week? You should be training more than 15-20 miles a week for Ironman (total). The long runs were really so few and far between, I couldn't tell you if I actually did ONE per month or not. It may have been longer, and would require looking into my online training log...but knowing my weekly totals...yeah, they were 15-20 unless it was a long run week. One far off goal I had to was run slowly towards the front, to see if even on a 7-8 hour training week, with injury, how close I could come to a Kona Qualification slot. Not that I ever planned on taking the slot (I have ITU World Long Course Triathlon Championships in September so Kona was out due to that).

One guy from Colorado who is always in the mix, Kevin Dessart, was someone who is typically a faster swimmer/bike than I am, who also holds the % of wins in head to head competition over me, by quite a bit. How close could I get? The cards were stacked against me in more than one way for this race, but whatever, give a go right? He would start a wave ahead of me so that was a 2 minute head start. If I saw him on the run, I'd gauge the effort. It was surprising to see him shortly after the first turn around on the run. I would continue to slowly--really slowly, close that gap all day long. Unfortunately, I lost a solid 5 minutes with 4x porta john breaks throughout the run (damn pizza!) I would just see the back of him, nearly catching him 4 times prior to the actual "catch" but lost a good 75 seconds per stop each time. Finally, around mile 23 we were even (although I knew I was actually 2 minutes up due to the chip time). He floored it and we were battling back and forth in an epic Mark Allen/Dave Scott Iron War of our own. As long as I could keep him about a city block in my sight, it would be a rare win over him. In the end, it was a blast, just so much fun! As we went around the final bike path cones a few blocks before the finish, Kevin took off like a Usain Bolt and put about 20-25 seconds on me (the same thing I had done to his friend Neal years ago at IM CDA in the last half mile). I had already used up all my energy just to make up the 2 min. swim deficit, plus the multiple overly long bathroom breaks. That was a good 7 minutes total I had to dig for, that last sprint effort was more than was in the tank at that point. Kevin Dessart, it was a pleasure being pushed to the limit by such an athlete of your stature, thanks for the monumental memory!

The race was over and at the awards, I had finished 3rd in the 45-49 and 12th overall (no pro field), all while spending the season injured, racing injured and training the distance of a sprint of Olympic distance triathlete. I'm calling it a massive success as I met my original goals of not getting sick during the race, finishing the race and qualifying my 19th time for Ironman Hawaii. As I said, I did not take the slot due to ITU Worlds. Never had I finished an Ironman and felt so fresh the following day. My recovery is going much better than anticipated, although that is just because I'm actually motivated to continue training and WANT to work out. That is a sign that I'm not burnt out from my non-existent season. In fact, I won't have enough triathlons to be ranked at all in 2016, as the 2015 Long Distance US Champion for Triathlon M45-49. I won't have any duathlons to be ranked in 2016, as the 2015 Long Distance US Champion for Duathlon M45-49. Wow, from high ranked to non-existent.

The take away here? It doesn't matter where your place is until the finish line. This was clearly the EASIEST all day long effort of any Ironman completed. This was clearly the LEAST amount of training ever done for an Ironman completed. This was clearly the HIGHEST overall placing of any Ironman completed. This is clearly the QUICKEST RECOVERY from any Ironman completed. Maybe there is a message here--just stop training all together and do the races? I'll have to think that one through...

(*Special thanks to Jen Schaffner for the lead photo from Twitter at the top of this post.)

Monday, November 23, 2015

End of season. Abbreviated but successful and no WTC events for the first time in a while. Previous posts show an injury received in St. Paul in June, followed by having to not start Boulder 70.3. Age group wise, it was more than I expected, having not lost the Age Group M45-49 in any race all season long except where the injury occurred, for multisport racing. In total, 2015 garnered THREE National Championship titles in three DIFFERENT sports.

Not a lot of racing, but a darn near perfect record despite sitting out the core of the summer race season. There may be some more racing this year, but with only weeks away until 2016 and a whole new scary world out there with some major life changes (to be revealed at a future date), the upcoming season includes some super duper long races such as Ironman Boulder, ITU World Long Course Triathlon Championships going as the US Champ to defend our soil & whatever else I can drum up. The random running race, or duathlon, but no Kona next year (nope, not taking a slot if I get it at Boulder), no Du Nationals long or short. It'll be home-bound more regional or local races. UNLESS something major changes, that is the plan. Do plans ever go exactly according to how they are laid out? Rarely!

Below is a picture from US Long Course Duathlon Championships. On the left, Tom Woods, then 2008 US Olympic & pro triathlete Matty "Boom Boom" Reed, KK (that's me!) and Dan Chapman ('15 Du Standard distance champ M45-49). I've gotten the opportunity to know Tom & Dan a bit better this season. Actually, I didn't really know them at all! But I've raced Tom a few times I guess looking back at results, but don't focus too much on the others, just going my own rate & seeing who is left standing at the end of the day. Good people, good to see some familiar faces at races, and chat online with a few of them. Fast boys, I'm going to have to continue to find a way to stave off Father Time as long as I can and reverse the aging process with consistency and better focus for 2016 and beyond. Gotta love this racing stuff--just a thrill, win lose, whatever. It's all good.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Long story short on US Standard Distance Nationals. I did finish but not without serious injury, did not defend my #1 ranking or national champion title in the M45-49. I also did not compete in yesterday's Ironman Boulder 70.3 to defend my title there either.

If you want the long winded version here it is...Running really was coming around quickly leading up to Nats, must have been the fact that all my running was pretty much a tempo run every time I stepped out just for time constrained reasons, no "junk" mileage allowed. Combining distance and some intensity into one run is all this busy life could afford in 2015, which was spent primarily on completely and intentionally turning my life upside down in many ways. Time to mix things up, enough of the old routine (while there is comfort in routine)...has become exceedingly and spiritually unrewarding. I had a blog post about BIG CHANGES about two blog posts back. While I'm not completely ready to release what those changes are (no, not the Caitlyn Jenner kind of changes! !)...it has more to do with future, freedom of the mind and ability to do things I've always wanted to do rather than what LIFE has decided for me along the way. I'm taking control of aspects of life coming up really soon so I'll be way happier in the long run. I think the take away here is finding that spiritualistic "key" that makes Kevin the happy go-lucky guy that has been dragged down by routine over the years past.

At Du Nats, once again my race room mate Andy Ames aka "The Legend" & I predicted a pretty decent race. My running was on from the start. On lap one, at the turn around a younger chap named Dave Slavinski (Master's Duathlete of the Year & multi-world/national champion in du & tri), asked where the rest of the pack was. We were at least 100 yards ahead at this point with the gap growing between the two of us & the pack. First mile he said was 5:23. Second mile was 5:16. Very comfortable and I was thinking at the time we should pick it up because it really felt too easy. I decided to take the lead from Dave so I did...pressed on the uphills a little bit more and soon found myself on the cobblestones of Raspberry Island. Just coming onto the second section of the cobbles my right foot toes landed on the cobblestone while most of the foot/heel dropped very quickly. I let out a loud "OUCH" and that was it. Pulled soleus according to the doctor.

Immediately I was spat out the back and Dave pulled away in the last half mile putting 20 seconds on me as I limped in to T1. Drop out? Continue? Let's see if I can shake it off on the bike. Fast transition and made up the time to Dave while mounting the bike. I told him to GO...since he said on the run we should work together during the bike to separate us further from the pack (unlikely as he is a way faster biker!) The bike ended up being a seated 1-legged pedalfest as I dropped back further and further, but we had such a large lead after that first run, the day did actually still end with a 3rd place in the M45-49. The bike downhills were awesome and the course was superior to last year's. Hills, curves, etc, all made to my strengths living in the Rocky Mountains. Too bad I couldn't get a chance to use those skills!

Just pressing down on the right pedal was too much to bear, the second run was not looking promising. If I had to walk to finish I would. Why did I not drop out and risk further injury? Honor.
I was the one with the target on the back by the others having been the top seed guy in the race for the age group and holding the rank of #1. I think you defend the title and rank, as best you can and at least give the guys behind you a shot at taking you down. So what if I raced it practically 1-legged...we toe the line together and finish the race, whoever crosses that line first deserves it. Barring crashes, injury, bad nutrition or whatever else you can come up with, it's all part of the game. To deny my competition that opportunity is unjustified wimpiness. I congratulated the guys who finished in front of me on the way to the medical tent. Got some ice, hobble out of there after the doc said what I had done was a soleus tear (taking 2+ to 2 months depending...) to recover from. To top it off, Andy had an awful day at the office, my kid came down with a fever and an athlete I coach crashed a week before his A-race separating his shoulder. What a HORRIBLE week it was.

As of this update, I had to not start in the Boulder 70.3 as mentioned. Can't quite run or clip out of bike pedals yet, but I'm hoping for that in about a week. I'm babying the injury and doing everything to recover as best I can. Light swimming with a pull buoy and aqua jogging has been my only recourse at this point...as well as some upper body weights and core work. I'm not taking this laying down, I've worked too hard and was "in the zone" with high expectations for the season, which was down to just one more race (Boulder Peak). As of last week, I've entered USAT LC Du Nats in Ft. Worth for November. Dave Slavinski told me after the race that USAT Tri LC Nats was this fall with World's in Oklahoma next year. I did not know that as I primarily race WTC races + USAT Nats. Typically, I don't go to many World Championship races aside from Kona and the two ITU Worlds I've done (only because they were close in Canada). I'm more of a long course guy anyhow. So yeah, I may enter USAT Tri LC Nats in September too.

A good start ended poorly for the season, but you have to have crisis management. Come up with a new plan and goals. So I have. I'll get by this and come back stronger, not because I want to, but because it simply is required. The only time you lose is when you quit. It's hard to lose if you never quit.

With Otillo out of the picture for this year (it was promised to my team mate that we had a Race Director men's team spot from merit, so I built my entire 2015 schedule around Otillo as the main goal)...I change gears to fill the void. Seems the RD went back on his word to Stefan and that just isn't cool. Especially since my season hinged on competing there. We are assured up and down the bible we were in, but yet, we aren't. So on to new things, Sweden is a trip that just isn't happening now. Oh well, for all the hype it is, Otillo is just as much a speck on the endurance world of racing than any other self-proclaimed world championship. Although...it would be cool to race it!

What's up next? Family, life changes and hopefully getting back into the swing of things to use this fall as a launch pad for 2016 season. I'll be starting much earlier for 2016 as it will be another Ironman year. Not sure which Ironman I'll be racing, but I have an idea or two. Either way, I'll be ready this time around. See you at the races!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

What a CRAZY last couple of months it has been. I took April off from work, except for Sundays...more on that in an upcoming blog post hopefully in the near future. Hopped in the Barking Dog...1st in AG, 4th overall, 1st "non-elite wave" finisher. What a weird race though (although it was cold so I was a fish in water & loving it!) It's no secret that aside from myself the arch-nemesis has always been the heat factor. With a training deficit due to April as mentioned...there wasn't a lot of pressure so I stayed out of the elite wave which took off in wave 1. Then there was a second wave, I was third & my buddy Andy Ames was in the 4th wave. With the elites & pros up the road & Andy not next to me, it was one of those go through the motions type runs. Nobody to run with so used it as a warm up, just enough to warm up for the bike.
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2015 Barking Dog Duathlon

The bike--okay, I gunned it as best I could so no complaints there, but it was still off from normal especially with all the rain we've had this year & as mentioned, the entire month of April's non-activity. Finally, the last run...whatever I could dig into/press to the finish is what was going to be my result. The finish came up quickly & even afterwards, didn't seem like I was really that taxed. No gaggy-pukey feeling like I normally have from over-exerting myself, although I didn't have coffee that morning. I think that is a trend I'll be following.

Memorial Day was Bolder Boulder. Another odd non-coffee day that started with wife's home baked wheat bread, strawberry jam and water. Used some old cotton sweats to ditch near the start, but brought $1 for a "mobile locker" just in case. Finally, I tried to use the mobile locker & theysaid it was actually now $2. So...I ditched said gear behind a bush and picked them up after the race. Before the race I did some sprint pick ups in front of Excel Sports with Chris Grauch, my team mate from our defending US National Master's Cross County gold medal crew. We run for Boulder Running Company/Team Adidas out of Colorado Springs. That really got the legs moving.

Long story short, I started about 7 yards or meters behind the start on the far left to avoid the nut jobs who just HAVE to get out front right away for that "A wave" photo that usually appears on the next year's calendar. Anyhow, it was a quite laid back start and just took it out what felt slow (5:32 pace)...but was not really any slower than last year--it just felt that way. About mile 1.5 Andy Ames (who holds silly fast BB records of 31 minutes + for many, many years)...pulled up and tapped me on the shoulder as he did last year when he trounced me horribly. I settled in right behind him comfortably until mile 5, then as I did in Barking Dog Du...decided there was just way too much left in the tank so I floored it until the finish with my second best time on that course. While it was my 2nd best time, it was also my easiest effort RPE-wise...with my lowest HR ever. Checking my 920XT, per LT zone calculations using the Coggan Method...I spent 68% of the Bolder Boulder in heart rate zone 3, with only 22% in zone 4. In 2014 I was almost all zone 4 after mile 1. Which totally makes sense because as I told a gal I used to coach through a Tweet on Twitter...it really did feel like just a Tempo run. I've had harder training runs than that effort. The data proves to too.

To top it off, I won my age group FINALLY in Bolder Boulder after something like four 2nd places in a row. Something has happened with the last couple races with the running. It seems easy to go faster, yet less training, but no coffee before races so there isn't that stomach acid issue.

The folks were here for 10 days so I didn't get to see them much with things starting to pick up following my "post-April" sabbatical from training with the upcoming races on the horizon. I'm heading to US Duathlon Nationals next week with 2013 World and National/2014 National 50-54 Champ Andy Ames, as my room mate again. This guy is a freaking LEGEND--if you Google him you'll see how impressive this guy is. It's always a challenge just to hold his shoulder in a race. I'm heading back to defend my 45-49 AG National Championship/#1 ranked for all of 2014. Andy is the one that talked me into this duathlon stuff a couple years ago when I finished 4th at World Championships in Ottawa's ITU Standard Distance Championships.

If I don't show up, it would be disrespectful to not only the National Champ title, the ranking, but to those who want to try to knock me off that top stair. Which is fine for me because I have no expectations especially after taking April off from pretty much "life of any sort" to speak of...although April was STILL fun...just not letting the cat outta the bag yet on that so stay tuned in the weeks ahead!

I've managed to spend some time with some of my athletes I coach, to really snucker-down on specific individual help, as well as holding a transition clinic for them. It included video footage, form analysis & set up for race day. Summer is just about here, tomorrow is the kid's last day of school, it looks like training time Monday-Wednesday will be more limited if any at times, but I'll have PLENTY of daddy time which is better than just about anything I can think of! You can ride a bike until you're older, or run when old--but you only have your kids around for so long. I'm going to take advantage of that while I can. Until next time, steer clear of the bad people in life & don't let anyone tell you "no" because--they know NOTHING about the power you hold within you!

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About Me

A USAT Level II coach, and USCA Level III coach, "Coach KK" has been at the top of the sport in either his age group or overall, in triathlon since 1988. He resides in Boulder, Colorado with his family, coaching multisport athletes all over the world. His clients have included athletes from France, England and Sweden. He raced 13x (KQ 19x) Hawaii Ironman, with a PB of 9:14, and a 3:01 Marathon in an Ironman. The 2014 US National Duathlon Champion & US National Master's Team Champion member is regularly a top 10 overall age grouper, he is poised to share his extensive triathlon knowledge with those who want to lead a healthy lifestyle and have fun while doing it. Recently, both the 2015 US Long Course Triathlon AND Long Course Duathlon National Champion.